Sparkling Tea Rød – 5%

Sparkling Tea Rød is the dry rosé made from tea

Sparkling Tea Rød is a dry tea cocktail in rosé, made from 10 organic tea varieties with white wine. Hibiscus, currant, and mint define its character, with the tartness keeping the sweetness in check. It is the least sweet of the three alcoholic varieties.

Sparkling Tea Rød is the rosé-colored cuvée from the Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company, containing 5 percent alcohol. Green, white, black, and herbal teas meet white wine and a fine effervescence. With 35 grams of residual sugar per liter, it is drier than the other two alcoholic varieties.

Currant, mint, and a delicate tartness

Rød smells of dark berries and a hint of herbs; on the palate, this transforms into something surprisingly dry.

Currant and wild berries lead the way, followed by emerging mint that is cool and crisp. The black tea sits underneath, providing the tannic structure usually only associated with red wine. It feels fruity, savory, and velvety on the palate, lingering for an unusually long time.

The tartness comes from the hibiscus blossom and is explicitly intended: it keeps the 35 grams of residual sugar in check, ensuring Rød never veers into being overly sweet. With 6.1 milligrams of caffeine per 100 milliliters and a bottle pressure of 5.5 bar, it is a serious drink for serious dishes.

For beetroot, Nordic fish, and malt waffles

Because it is dry and has structure, Rød is perfect for occasions where a standard rosé would be too light.

Nordic fish and seafood dishes are its home, as is spicier cuisine featuring cumin or paprika. The gourmet restaurant GEMYSE paired it with beetroot and sweet potatoes because the tartness of the hibiscus balances their earthy sweetness rather than amplifying it.

It even works with dessert: paired with a malt waffle and sesame ice cream, it absorbs the subtle sweetness and brings the wild berry notes to the fore. This is a role that hardly any other alcoholic beverage can fill without becoming intrusive.

Serve it well chilled at about 5 degrees in a white wine glass. If you are looking for the non-alcoholic version in rosé, you will find it in Lyserød; for Asian cuisine, you are better off reaching for the Grøn.

Ten teas for a single rosé

Rød is the most complex cuvée from the house and the only one in which all four tea types come together.

Green tea brings freshness, white brings softness, black provides structure, and herbal tea adds spice—ten varieties in total, each infused individually at its own temperature and for its own brewing time. Only then is the cuvée created, just as Jacob Kocemba learned as a sommelier: not by mixing, but by composing.

Remarkable, too, is where the color comes from. A rosé made from wine gets its color from the pigments in the grape skins; here, the hibiscus blossom takes over that role—providing the tartness at the same time. What are two separate processes in wine, color and structure, are handled by a single ingredient in Rød.

Kocemba founded the house in 2017 together with Bo Sten Hansen, after standing as a sommelier in front of a cellar with over 1,700 wines and still not finding anything suitable for a dessert. Instead of settling for that, he brewed tea.

The mixture then matures for 8 to 12 weeks in the bottle, with the carbonation added later. What counts here is not fermentation, but patience during the steeping process—and that is exactly what you can taste in the end. Hats off.

You can read more about the house in the portrait of the Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company, and you can find all varieties among the Sparkling Teas with and without alcohol.

Organic inspection body DK-BIO-100 EU – Non-EU agriculture